That Kind Of Secret
by firstlaughintartarus
Summary: Annabeth Chase was as good as they come, all the evidence pointed to it. There was no reason not to believe it. Except, of course, if you lived in the house right next to hers and could see through the window of her bedroom. AU.


If you asked anyone in this part of town about her, they'd say Annabeth Chase was a good girl.

She wore designer cashmere sweaters and designer ballerina flats and designer headbands in her perfectly curled princess locks. Her shirts were always buttoned up modestly, and the hemlines of her skirts never ended above her fingertips. At school, she always had a clean set of notebooks and binders in her perfectly manicured hands, (almost) always showed up early to class, and had never gotten anything lower than an A- in all her years at Westbrook High. She had all of the freshman, sophomore, junior, and about three quarters of the senior class wrapped around her pinkie finger.

She was just _that _good. The perfect child, the straight-A++ student, Daddy's favorite, whatever you wanted to call her. She was always walking straight on the line, right where everyone could see and admire her, never one step over. Annabeth Chase was as good as they come, all the evidence pointed to it. There was no reason _not _to believe it. Except, of course, if you lived in the house right next to hers and could see through the window of her bedroom.

As I did.

Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't some pervert who stared at her while she changed her clothes, I only saw her as she sat at her desk or on her bed with some papers and her laptop, and besides, she closed her curtains before she undressed anyway.

I didn't know her too well, considering I had been her neighbor for, like, six years. I only knew how she sounded because of the speeches the Principal always asked her to make at assemblies and the occasional 'Hi, John' when she passed me in the hallway. But I'd say I knew her habits and behavior when she was alone in her bedroom well enough.

She studied hard every night, she picked out her (designer) outfits for the next day, she brushed her long hair and got into pajamas before her parents came to say goodnight. And then she'd hug and kiss her mom on the check, wrap her arms around her dad and they'd smile and leave.

Most nights Annabeth Chase would call lights out and climb into bed when the hour hand on the clock hit eleven, which was no small feat if you think about all the extra-credit assignments she completed and aced.

But there were moments where even she couldn't fool me.

For instance, there were days when her phone rang after her parents had kissed her goodnight and she would positively _glow_ as she saw the caller ID. That seemed fine, maybe it was one of her close friends, but the strange part was that she'd open her door and check to see if anyone was there before picking up the line. And then there was the way she giggled softly as she talked and blushed and got all flustered, it was most interesting because Annabeth Chase did _not _get flustered.

The even stranger thing was how the doorway seemed to capture her attention every few seconds, almost like she was doing something a good girl wouldn't do.

This mystery caller puzzled me for weeks, he or she would call every two or three nights, and always left Annabeth climbing into bed with flushed cheeks and a dopey smile on her face.

I had almost forgotten about it by January, two months after I had first encountered a rule-breaking Annabeth. I though that it had just been a phase, or something, and she was still an angel down to the core, until I saw some guy lurking around my house one Saturday night.

At first I glanced over him, thinking that he was just someone who lived in the neighborhood that had decided to take a stroll down the block.

But then I started noticing things. Like how he was standing still, leaning against a tree, almost as if he were trying (and failing) to act natural.

And then I took in his appearance. The hair caught my attention first, all spiky and tousled and _black, _like light had canceled out on itself and resulted into the mane on this dude's head. That pretty much described his entire attire. Black muscle tank, black skinny jeans, black combat boots, black tattoo on his right arm.

I counted three piercings in his right ear. What was a punk doing in a honest-to-goodness neighborhood like this?

He pulled something out of his pockets, and I started think that _oh no he has a gun_, but it was just a pocketknife. With which he started carving the tree he was leaning on. I was tempted to get him busted for vandalizing 'public beautifications' but he intrigued me too much to let him out of my sight.

And if my phone didn't ring exactly two minutes later, I would have seen him grin towards the window of the good girl next door.

The digital clock on my table beeped as the hour read 1:00. I woke with a start, rubbing my sore neck after sleeping with my head on the table.

I cursed the history assignment the teacher had given us and rose from the chair. Moonlight streamed through the window. There were few things worse than blinding moonlight trespassing your room at an ungodly hour of the morning. Groaning, I trudged over to the window. I was about to draw the curtains without a single glance to the dimly lit street outside, until my eye caught movement.

Something was moving very non-stealthily down the side of the Chase household.

More specifically, down the pipes and ivy that grew from Annabeth's window to the ground. As the figure climbed down the vine more vigorously with each step, I caught a flash of gold. My initial though had been _no, she's too good for that. _

But then I saw flawless curls carved into the gold, and the faint sparkle of a diamond studded ring she always wore. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Annabeth Chase, the idol, the role model, the pride and joy of Westbrook High, was _sneaking out of her window at one in the morning. _

She neared the bottom and jumped the last three feet, dropping a backpack to the floor before she did. Just for a second, after glancing around, she pulled down her black hood and tied her hair into a knot, only to cover it up again. The she grabbed her backpack and started jogging down the street.

I wrung my hands, made a split second decision, grabbed a black hoodie of my own and bolted out the door. The cool September air tingled on the skin of my face, but I gritted my teeth and shoved my hands into my pockets and started jogging off into the direction Annabeth went.

I couldn't let her just wander off alone at night, even though we lived in a relatively safe area. Plus, there were people like that tree-vandalizing guy I had seen earlier hanging around. I was just about to turn the corner into another street where I had seen Annabeth go, when I heard voices. Well, not really voices, but more like muffled laughter and quiet shushing.

"Percy!" a voice whispered. I recognized it as the silky sweet speech that always came from the ever-crowded locker opposite the hall from mine. "Wait until we get out of here, will you?"

They started getting farther away, and that was my cue to follow. I turned the corner and saw the silhouettes of two people, one considerably taller and more male-like than the other.

Was Annabeth Chase with a boy? The thought that she was sneaking around at night with some guy would have raised eyebrows all over town.

I had to make sure she didn't end up in some kind of gang fight.

The two of them turned left again, then right, then another left and stood in front of what I recognized as the local park. The gates were closed, obviously, but that didn't stop them. The guy immediately put one leg on a bar and hoisted the other over. He helped Annabeth get there and then they hopped the gate, just like that. I steeled my nerves. After they got a safe thirty feet ahead of me, I pulled myself onto the gate, grunting and groaning from the strain. Seeing them hurry down the path, I stealthily followed.

"Here," Annabeth said as the stopped in front of a tree, her voice full of giddy excitement.

What were they going to do, some kind of ritual?

"Oh god, I've been waiting to do this forever," Definitely male.

Annabeth got closer to him, stood on her tiptoes and-

"Annabeth?" I exclaimed, completely blown away. They immediately broke apart. I figure they already knew I was there, so I stepped closer. She recognized me immediately.

"John?" Her voice was small and guilty as hell.

"What are you doing?" I asked like an idiot. It was pretty obvious what they were doing.

The guy, who I now saw as the tree-carving delinquent that was hanging out in the street earlier today, spoke up. "It's my fault, she was just here and I thought I'd kiss her."

Sure, it was admirable, what he said, but feeble. "Oh please, I saw you two walking here together."

Annabeth gulped. "John, please don't tell anyone,"

I figured I could use this situation to find out more, even though I wouldn't tell, not really. "Who is he?" I pointed at the guy.

"I'm Percy," He stood tall.

Annabeth looked up to him, something akin to adoration in her eyes, "He's my boyfriend,"

I gaped at them.

"I know, I know," Annabeth continued, "He doesn't fit my 'perfect girl' demeanor, but…" She glanced up at Percy again, the same look in her eyes. It finished the sentence for her.

I looked at Percy, then to Annabeth, and back to Percy again. How had she managed to keep this hidden from the world? Then I thought about how she had kep up the perfect image for so long. She looked tired.

"Alright," I raised my hands in surrender, "Fine."

Percy raised his eyebrows, "Alright, what?"

"Alright, I won't give you away,"

Annabeth turned to me with narrowed eyes. She studied my face for a moment, as if deciding whether I was being serious or not. She must have thought I was sincere, because she smiled softly.

"Thank you, John," She placed a hand on my shoulder, "for understanding."

I nodded and grunted, hoping to sound nonchalant. The gratefulness in her voice and the way she laced her fingers with Percy's behind her back was doing strange things to my retinas. A branch must have gotten in there.

I turned to walk away, figuring they wanted to continue with what they came here to do. My feet crunched on dry leaves. I had just reached the path when I heard Annabeth call my name again.

"Oh, and John?" She said with a raised voice. "Remember this: good girls are really bad girls who haven't been caught."

My footsteps sounded hollow in the quiet. I shoved my hands in my pockets again and quieted down when my house came into view. My parents would not react well to the news that I was wandering around at night. The tree that Percy had been carving on earlier that day stood in front of the door to my house, and I realized I had never got to ask him about that. I was just about to walk past it, when a glimmer caught my eye.

Glinting in the moonlight, a messily carved _Annabeth_ encased in a heart shone on the bark.

* * *

**if you didn't notice, this was inspired by Good Girls by 5 Seconds of Summer. weird, I don't usually listen to their songs. it's strange where you find inspiration. **

**thanks for reading.**


End file.
